Seydoux's parents are both partly of Alsatian descent. Her father is a great-grandson of businessman and inventor Marcel Schlumberger, while her mother is a granddaughter of Marcel's brother, Maurice Schlumberger.[7][8] Seydoux's parents divorced when she was three years old and they were often away,[9] her mother in Africa and her father on business, which, combined with her large family, meant that she "felt lost in the crowd... I was very lonely as a kid. Really I always had the feeling I was an orphan."[10]

For six years, Seydoux went to summer camp in America, at the behest of her father, who wanted her to learn to speak English.[11][12]

My grandfather Jérôme has never felt the slightest interest in my career. [My family] have never lifted a finger to help me. Nor have I asked for anything, ever.

– Seydoux dismissing suggestions that her family connections have helped her career.[13]

The Seydoux family is widely known in France. Her grandfather, Jérôme Seydoux, is the chairman of Pathé;[14] her granduncle, Nicolas Seydoux, is the chairman of Gaumont Film Company;[14] her other granduncle, Michel Seydoux, also a cinema producer, is currently the chairman of the Lille-based football club Lille OSC; and her father is CEO of the French wireless company Parrot.[10] Despite Seydoux's connections, her family initially took no interest in her film career and did not help her.[9][10] As a child, she had no desire to act. She instead wanted to be an opera singer,[6][15] studying music at the Conservatoire de Paris.[16]

Her mother Valérie Schlumberger is a former actress-turned-philanthropist and the founder of the boutique CSAO (Compagnie d'Afrique du Sénégal et de l'Afrique de l'ouest), which promotes the work of African artists. Seydoux once worked as a model for their jewellery line Jokko. Schlumberger, who lived in Senegal as a teenager, is also the founder of the charitable organisations ASAO (Association pour le Sénégal et l'Afrique de l'Ouest) and Empire des enfants, a centre for homeless children in Dakar, of which Seydoux is the "godmother."[10][6]

Seydoux describes her youthful self as short-haired, slightly disheveled, and widely viewed as a bit strange: "People liked me, but I always felt like a misfit."[5] Still concerned for her shyness in adulthood, Seydoux has admitted to having had an anxiety crisis during the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.[17]

Career

2005–2007

Seydoux says that as a child she wanted to become an opera singer, studying music at the Conservatoire de Paris, but eventually her shyness compelled her to drop the idea.[18][19] It wasn't until the age of eighteen that she decided to become an actress.[20] One of her friends was an actor, and Seydoux has said: "I found his life wonderful, I thought, 'Oh my god, you can travel, you're free, you can do what you want, you're the boss.'"[11][21] She then fell in love with an actor and decided to become an actress to impress him.[11] She took acting classes at French drama school Les Enfants Terribles,[14] and in 2007 she took further training at New York's Actors Studio with Corinne Blue.

In 2005, Seydoux appeared in the music video for Raphaël's single "Ne partons pas fâchés". The following year, Seydoux played her first major screen role as one of the main characters in Sylvie Ayme's Girlfriends (Mes copines). She starred in Nicolas Klotz's short film La Consolation, which was exhibited at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.[22]

Seydoux auditioned to play Lisbeth Salander in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, but the part ultimately went to actress Rooney Mara.[19] Seydoux recalled in an interview: "I got upset, but I don't think I'd be able to do anything to get that part. It was totally against my nature. I worked hard, but Lisbeth was almost anorexic. I wasn't like that".[5] Seydoux was chosen, however, to play Gabrielle in Midnight in Paris, by Woody Allen, whom she calls one of her favorite directors of all time. There was no casting – Allen was shown pictures of three French actresses and from all he chose Seydoux.[5][14]